Why do some Christians predict the kidnapping on Tiktok?

The abduction is close – at least according to an apocalyptic prophecy of a South African man who says that he will fall on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Its claim has become viral, some believing that it will mark the end of time and many others mocking social media.

“There are millions and millions of Christians in the world today, perhaps even hundreds of millions of Christians in the world who believe in modern prophecy and consume media populated by these modern prophecies,” said Matthew Taylor, a main Christian scholar at the Institute for Islamic Jew-Christian Studies.

Here is an overview of the theological concept of kidnapping and its role in history:

What is kidnapping?

The abduction is the belief of certain evangelical Christians in a future event when Jesus returns to earth to take the real believers to heaven before a period of great tribulation which culminates at the end of the world.

“Everyone stays on earth for a tumultuous and troubled period,” said Amy Frykholm, author of Culture of the ravages: left in evangelical America.

Usually, in this kind of narration, people who are “resumed” are a surprise, she said: “While many people who were considered good Christians are left behind”.

The return of Jesus to earth, also known as the second coming, is referenced in Daniel’s book of the Old Testament and the revelation book of the New Testament, explains Randall Balmer, professor of religion at Dartmouth College.

The believers who were persecuted at the beginning of Christianity at the time of the Roman Empire considered the book of the Apocalypse as an assurance that God would eventually prevail over evil, he said.

History of belief

The word “delight” does not appear in the Bible. But there are passages commonly cited to support belief, especially in 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians and Matthieu 24.

The belief in rapture began in the middle of the 19th century in Great Britain and elsewhere in the English-speaking world, known as Frykholm, adding a secret exclusivity to the second coming, which was a belief already accepted at the time.

The rapture belief has spread in the conferences of the 20th century Bible, the evangelical media and the publication of the SCOFIELD reference Bible, which detailed the removal in the footnote, known as Frykholm. Pop culture has also advanced belief, including through the evangelical Christian horror film A thief in the night And the popular Left behind Romanesque series.

What is the last prediction?

Joshua Mhlakela, a South African man who describes himself as a single believer without a religious title, says that God allowed him to see the future.

In a YouTube video widely seen published three months ago, he says he can see Jesus on a throne and hearing him say that he arrives soon: “He said to me:” In September) 23 and the 24, 2025, I will come to take my church “.” “”

His prediction fueled the debates by Christian commentators and has become viral on social networks, including on Tiktok under the hashtag #Paptok where many have made fun of another false affirmation by another false prophet.

Some have noted that the dates overlap with the early holy days of Judaism, which started this year with Rosh Hashana – the Jewish New Year this year.

Others pointed out that if this was happening now, he would follow the murder of the American and Evangelical Christian Curator Charlie Kirk and coincided with the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

“Ideas on the kidnapping are better understood in the broader framework of apocalypticism, an old vision of the ancient Jewish world which predates Christianity,” said Kim Haines-Eitzen, professor of former Mediterranean religions at Cornell University.

She said that apocalyptic ideology often increases during or after traumatic events, noting that many first Christians believed that the end of time would occur during their lifetime.

“Their writings are now used by contemporary Christians who share Mhlakela’s point of view that the kidnapping is imminent-perhaps even today,” she said.

Past predictions

The preacher of California Doomsday Harold Camping predicted that the kidnapping would occur on May 21, 2011. His independent Christian media Empire spent millions of dollars to pass the word. He abandoned public prophecy when she did not arrive.

The predictions on the imminent return of Jesus on earth and the end of the world are not unusual, but they do not all include an element of devastation.

A notable example came in the 19th century, when the farmer and the interpreter of the American Bible William Miller began to tell his disciples that Jesus would return between 1843 and 1844. Miller said that he had based his calculations on his reading of the Bible.

“Many of his disciples gathered and prepares to be translated into paradise. This did not happen on the date he thought,” said Balmer. “Then he returned to his calculations and set another date, that is to say on October 22, 1844, when he assured his disciples that they would be translated into the sky. And of course, that did not happen.”

This moment is known in Christian history as the great disappointment.

The seventh -day Adventist Church traces its roots to Miller’s preaching.

When Jesus did not return as expected, the milleritis divided into smaller groups. One, influenced by the visions of Ellen White, led to the Adventist practice of the seventh day today. Some have become Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“Others have started the secret ravish movement that has become more widely evangelical,” said Frykholm.

What they had in common, she said is that they refused to appoint a date for the second coming, saying that Jesus said that we could never know a moment.

When the prophecies are not realized, said Taylor, modern prophets often frame it in terms of spiritual war where they were right to reveal the prophecy, but humanity is to blame not to cooperate with the will of God.

Historically, failed predictors “have a lot of eggs on their faces,” said Taylor.